Bonds That Last
by warelander
Summary: In an alternate universe where the Madou world and Primp are one, Arle, Amitie, Sig, Camus and Lala grow up together, as they learn how to deal with both big adventures and everyday challenges.
1. The Tower Exam: Prologue

"So always remember children: you must channel the ice magic in your fingertips before releasing it, otherwise you will only cast a cold gust of wind rather than an aimed blast of ice particles."

Intrigued noises filled the confines of Ms. Bonnet's kindergarten class, truly new spells were the kind of subject that always caught the attention of every child in the room.

Indeed, one look at the class saw everyone in class take great note of today's lesson, some students took notes to make sure they would remember everything they needed to know, while others were already trying their hands on this new technique. One particular table housed two girls that were already eagerly at work to test this ability.

One of these girls was Arle Nadja, holding a pencil in her hand she let out a calm sigh, closing her eyes and doing her hardest to concentrate, a cold feeling shot through her body into her fingertips, eventually deflating into what felt like a cool gust of wind.

"Arle! Arle it's working!"

Eager to see the result of her test Arle opened her eyes, glancing at the pencil, which much to her delight was frozen in the middle part she was holding. A huge smile crept on the girl's face at her quick success, dropping the pencil and instead grabbing the hands of her desk partner and friend Amitie Rose, giddily celebrating wild enough to almost shake the blonde girl's Puyo hat off.

"Ami, I did it already!"

"You did! You're a natural!"

"She really is."

All of the sudden the celebrations were dropped as the two friends saw Ms. Bonnet in front of their desk, which wasn't made any better by the entire class staring at them now.

"He-he...whoops! We got a bit loud there did we?" Amitie said in a sheepish fashion, twiddling thumbs a little to distract herself from having everyone's eyes directed at her.

Fortunately, their teacher wasn't there to scold them, in fact looking her in the face her expression wasn't a stern one, but one of pride. Ms. Bonnet took the pencil herself, examining the frozen spot, clearly a bit surprised, but also pleased.

"To think you can already cast it so well, your magic skill really is already very ahead, Arle!"

"Aww shucks, thanks, teacher!" Arle couldn't help but to blush a little, to get such a compliment in front of the whole class wasn't something that happened every day.

Even as the rest of the class gradually diverged their attention back to their own business one girl couldn't help but to keep staring at Arle and her teacher having a brief further conversation. It's another one of Arle's friends: Lala Vera.

The blonde and pony-tailed girl couldn't help but to look, Arle was usually seen as the class' best, that's how it usually was, basically the status quo, yet she still intently listened to what the two had to tell each other.

This did not go unnoticed her desk partner and best friend, then again her glancing into the direction of their teacher and friend while leaning her head on her hand made that less than subtle. Having shared a desk with Lala since the beginning, Sig Neroni had witnessed moments like this several times before. Looking around their desk to find evidence that confirmed his theory, he took note of Lala's notebook, noticing that she had not only written down their entire lesson word-by-word but also traced her own hand with notes on what fingers were most effective to cast the Ice spell.

Sig redirected his glance back to Lala, the notes told him everything he needed to know, they had been there several times before. As usual, whenever something like this occurred he placed a hand on one of her shoulders, causing her to jerk up a bit before turning around to face him.

"I know…" was all Sig said while presenting his friend an understanding smile, one she quickly returned, with her own vision locked onto his almost hypnotic ocean blue eyes, feeling like she could get lost into them with how rich color they were.

Before the two could say anything else, they were startled by the abrupt and shrill ringing of the school bell began its assault on everyone's ears to announce a far more joyous occasion: Recess.

It didn't take long for the halls of the school building to be filled with students eager to attend to their big break of the day, with kindergärtners and 1-4th graders alike practically fighting and shoving each other around to ensure they would be the first to be graced with a chance to get some fresh air. Right in the midst of this chaos was the small group of Arle, Amitie, Sig and Lala, doing their best to stick together through the mess.

Eventually, the group finally made it outside, joining their fellow students for their daily scheduled 20 minutes of freedom, taking refuge at their usual resting place: a tree close to the upper-right corner of the playground. Painting heavily Arle planted herself right next to the three to lean against it, Amitie and Lala meanwhile not willing to run even farther sat down on the grass, while Sig let himself fall face-first into it, only looking up a bit when noticing a ladybug on a nearby blade of grass.

The group was too out of breath and busy with themselves to notice a familiar boy approach them, one who had to hold back a chuckle at the sight of the four friends.

"This is why I use the emergency exit!"

Arle recognized the voice right away, she didn't know a lot of students in the higher classes, but she sure knew this one in particular. Looking up she quickly took note of the black-haired boy's amused expression and the way he held his magic staff between his hands as if trying to look professional.

Pouting, the girl crossed her arms and gave him a very unimpressed look. "Well, it's not like we can all get away with that because the headmaster is our grandma, Camus!"

"Camus!?"

Not skipping a single beat Lala shot up on her feet, earning the looks of Amitie and Sig, who proceeded to turn their attention towards their slightly older friend, who in turn, raised an arm as a greeting gesture.

"How was your day so far, guys? Finally learned all the basic elemental spells?"

"We sure have!" Amitie said in a very excited manner, waving her arms around for emphasize. "And guess what? Teach was really proud of Arle for already pulling it off so well!"

"Ami, it's really not that big a deal!" Arle tried to protest, but couldn't help but to be a bit flattered regardless.

While the two girls playfully argued, Camus couldn't help but to have his attention drawn to Sig, the boy hadn't said much so far, which wasn't unusual, he was a quiet guy, sometimes prone to get distracted by whatever bug came across his vision. Only this time he wasn't looking at a bug, instead he had his eyes set on Lala, who in turn, directed her gaze at Arle and Amitie, with a familiar expression on her face.

Much like Sig, Camus knew that look all too well, not wasting any time he approached her, not that she even noticed until he stood literally right in front of her.

"Uhm, Camus, wha-"

"It still bothers you, doesn't it?" He asked as if not already knowing, even as the blushing girl visibly attempted to regain her composure.

"Pfft, that? Naww, why would it?"

"It totally still does." Sig interjected in his usual blunt sounding manner, something Lala clearly didn't appreciate at the moment and only got worse when Arle and Amitie finally caught wind of what was going on.

"Lala...be honest." Arle said in a genuinely sympathetic manner, she knew that this was a touchy subject to her, but this had gone on for long enough and it was never nice to see her friend hang her head low, looking outright ashamed over something she had no control or fault over.

"...It just sucks! Every time we learn something new I'm always the one hanging behind, all because my natural magic power is weaker then the rest of the class it's so unfair!" The frustrated six-year-old vented, stomping her foot on the ground and no longer caring if anyone else was looking.

"I take the most detailed notes I can and practice for hours at home, but by the time I get a grip on one spell we are already doing the next one!"

A rather uncomfortable silence befell the group, Arle, Amitie and Sig gave each other looks, clearly struggling to find the right thing to say. Camus was rather taken by surprise at just how much this truly affected her, but also knew that Lala would be most likely to listen to him, so he'd just have to be as assuring as he could be.

"That just says a lot about how hard you are willing to work." He said, straight-faced and in a manner of fact fashion. Lala looked more confused than anything else, not sure what he was trying to get at.

"So?"

"Well, it shows that you are able to work past that handicap by perfecting your skill. Sure you don't excel at raw power, but your finesse with how you control the magic power you do possess is already remarkable!"

That's when it came back, that glimmer in Lala's eyes that were usually Camus' sign to run for the hills, but not this time, he knew Lala needed to hear this. Putting up his most confident posture.

"My family line has been with this school forever, so you can trust me as a van der Weide, you are no lesser than any of us."

By this point Camus could no longer resist the urge to take a cautious step back, that glimmer had only gotten stronger and it was obvious that Lala wasn't even paying any attention to the approving comments of her other friends. Faster then he could react the girl outright leaped at him, glomping him with such a force that he nearly lost his balance.

"Oh, Camus, you always know what to say!" The blonde cooed, hearts practically floating all over her head, completely drowning out Camus' incoherent babbling, as he shambled across the playground with Lala still holding onto him, desperately trying to somehow get himself out of this for him, awkward predicament.

Arle, Sig, and Amitie just chuckled as they watched the two, glad that he was able to raise Lala's spirit, surely this day wouldn't take a sudden turn after all...

**Notes:**

Alright, this AU is a project I have been yearning to do for a long time and I'm really excited to do this.

Special thanks to kirbymanx, for not only letting me use the Rose family name for Amitie, but also coming up with names for Sig, Camus and Lala. I really wanted to go with european family names, both to go with Nadja and because I feel they fit well with the Puyo Puyo cast.

Also Sig doesn't have his red eye and arm yet, he wasn't born with them in the games and I'm rolling with that as well.

Next time things really get started, as we slowly ease into my AU retelling of Madou Monogatari 1!


	2. The Tower Exam: Chapter 1

The Tower Exam: Chapter 1

The next day at recess, the kindergärteners enjoyed themselves as much as they could on this sunny day. Sig was looking bugs with his net, accidentally catching fellow kindergärteners when he saw a fly in their hair when it was just dirt.

Lala and Camus were playing hide-and-go-seek, whether Camus intended to or not. Lala was searching high and low for him. "I found you, Camus!~" Lala said from ontop a tree, looking down at her target with a wide smile to rival Amitie's.

"Darn it…" The older boy said underneath his breath. They played three times this recess alone already and it wasn't even done yet. Just ten more minutes.

Meanwhile, Arle and Amitie were still playing around with the base ice spell they were taught. "Okay, Arle!" Amitie shouted, still excited about Arle's latest hit. "Now I'm gonna throw this stone super high!" She pointed at said stone in her palm.

"Yeah, go for it, Ami!" She was just as pumped about it as her deskmate.

"Heeeereeeeee iiiiiiiiiiiit gooooooooeeeeeees!" Amitie closed her eyes, stuck out her tongue and windmilled her right arm. "Whoop!" And there it went. Amitie marveled at the gravity at the display.

Arle instead was completely focused on the stone. It needed to be in range for her to hit. Arle has seen more intense ice spells than she was taught. This ice spell as she figured out first hand was a short-ranged one. She needed to hit this speeding rock right when it falls in front of her.

Other kindergärteners watching were on the edge of their seats. They've been impressed so far.

"1, 2, ICE!"

The crowd goes wild! Arle Nadja had turned the stone into an ice stone. "You did it, Arle! YOU DID IT!" Amitie put her hands on Arle's shoulders and jumped up and down.

Arle smiled at her feat too. That was a lot harder than hitting a rock that sat still. "Hey, try charging your ice magic."

"Huh?" Arle, Amitie and the rest who were watching turned to the classmate who said that.

"A big ice spell!" The classmate repeated. "Can you do that, Arle?"

"Oh, maybe she can make it snow!"

"I want snow, Arle!"

"Me too, Arle!"

"Yeah, make it snow!"

"Make it snow! Make it snow! Make it snow!" The crowd chanted including Amitie. Hungry to see what else Arle can do. Perhaps with their expectations too high, but not that they knew that, they were still chanting.

"Um… I don't know if I can do that. But I'll try." Arle hasn't taught to build up her magical spells yet. She searched herself in hope of a spell hidden deep within her. She focused until she sensed a mighty icy spell. That must've been it. "Okay, here it comes!"

"Excuse me! Running trough!" Camus ran trough the crowd gently pushing them aside. Ran past Arle and gently pushed aside more of the crowd ring as everyone looked on.

"Camus, wait!" They all heard Lala scream, as she didn't care who was in her way at the moment. So when she accidentally pushed Arle, Arle's spell went off. The crowd gasped.

"Lala!" Arle and Amitie shouted at the blonde girl that got hit by the stronger-than-average Ice spell. Lala was frozen in a 3-centimeter coat of solid ice.

Camus turned around, having felt the strong cold breeze the spell created. Being taller than most of the onlookers he spotted the ice sculpture of his clingy chaser. "Lala!" He barged his way through the crowd this time if they didn't step aside already. "Arle, Amitie! We got to bring her to the nurse now!"

Arle and Amitie said nothing and immediately lifted their heavy frozen friend to the nurse's office.

Sig happened to look up from a bug to see them enter the school. "La…La…?" He vaguely recognized her through the ice. He followed and helped carry his deskmate.

At the nurse's office, the nurse tried to make the kids feel better about themselves. She giggled at the situation like it was nothing. "Oh, kids, it happens all the time." She dismissed their fears. Not that they did so. Nobody blamed Arle, nobody blamed Camus or Lala. But it was heavy on them. "I remember this poor kid that got frozen every day, we had to bind the bully's magic until she learned her lesson."

"Is Lala gonna be okay?" Sig asked for the second time to the nurse. He was the first on the draw.

"Oh, of course, she's gonna be okay." The nurse said as she pulled out a hammer and pick out with a smile. Making the kids really uncomfortable while Lala's still frozen body vibrated in terror. "Please calm down, kids. This is a delicate procedure. Nothing that healing magic can't fix afterward, but this has to be as painless and possible for poor Lala, of course."

"C-Can't you just melt her out of it?" Amitie asked.

"Fire magic never came easy to me, healing magic did, that's why I'm a nurse. It's a good thing you kids came early. Humans can breathe encased in ice, in case you haven't learned that yet, but it's good to see you brought her regardless. Kids, never leave someone frozen alone, you never know if they're strong enough to melt themselves out. Got that?"

"Yes, nurse." They all replied. Safe for one, Sig was especially worried about his currently frigid friend.

"Lala." He lifted his hand, about to put his hand on her icy shoulder.

"Sig!" The nurse shocked the bug loving boy out of his trance.

"Huh?"

"I was just about to teach you kids about if you leave someone helpless like this," The nurse tapped on Lala's ice, freaking the kindergärtener inside out. "You starve them and leave them subject to frostbite or the cold."

"What's frostbite?" The most innocent asked.

Camus shook his head and waved his arms. "You don't want to know, Amitie." Their senior discouraged.

The nurse shrugged. "Just don't let it happen. If you're good at fire always help them out, alright?" She asked the younger students.

"Yes, nurse." They replied with Lala's condition heavily weighing them down.

"Perk up." She cheerfully encouraged. "She'll be out and about just in a jiffy. If I had to guess around the time that school's out at the latest. Come back then."

The kids promised to the frozen Lala they'll check up on her. They were sent to class. "I wanna stay with Lala." Sig said to the nurse. Making Arle feel as if she was punched in the gut. Hearing this quiet boy this distraught will do that to you.

"No, Sig." The nurse said authoritatively for a change.

"Pretty please?" Sig pleaded, tugging down on the nurse's dress for her to take him seriously.

"Don't make me take you to class myself, Sig. I'll have less time to help Lala that way." The nurse simply explained to him.

That was enough to convince Sig, his head hung low, he felt defeated for Lala.

He looked at the hand that was placed on his shoulder. It was Arle's. She didn't look much happier than he was.

He then looked at the second hand placed on his other shoulder. It was Camus'. He just nudged his head and pointed at the exit with his thumb.

Sig took a big sigh, changed his mind and stood his ground, he wanted to be there for her until she was no longer so cold. The nurse ordered his non-frozen classmates to drag him to class. "Get better, Lala." He barely managed to get out as he was dragged off by the arms.

All Lala could hear was barely audible noise. She felt bad that her friends were leaving. Camus stuck around a bit longer however, for he was given a task, some money and was granted leave to quickly fetch some cold medicine for Lala to take with her just in case. And he did so with no hesitation.

Once they got back to class they sat back to their usual seats. Arle's guilt stirred a bit. It was her spell that had put Lala on ice… So it's her fault. She looked at Sig.

He vacantly stared at the table's pencil mug. Lala and Sig made it together out of clay earlier in the school year. It had their names engraved with it, along with a ladybug and a ribbon. Looking at it, the memories that came with it emphasized to the boy how lonely he was at his table.

And Arle kept looking at him. "She'll get better, Arle." Amitie tried to comfort her friend. But neither was sure Lala would get out of the ice safely. It made them very uncomfortable.

Suddenly, Ms. Bonnet walked in. "Sorry, I'm late, children." She humbly apologized as she took place in front of the blackboard. "Before we start again I want it to be known that _Ice spells_ are not _Snow spells."_ Her words made Arle sink in her seat. Amitie tried to make her feel better. "I don't like repeating this, but please do not attempt to cast spells you do not know how to cast. That's reckless, not to mention unsafe. You could put yourself and others in danger." She was as stern as she needed to be in the moment.

"_Yes, teacher…"_

"As long as you understand." She spoke a little more normally. "Now, who's ready for a surprise test?" Their teacher lifted a modest stack of paper from her desk drawer.

As if on cue the whole class groaned and moaned.

"Oh, don't be like that. This won't affect your grades." The teacher felt the wave of relief. "But it is important." And there went the groans again. "So remember, do your best." A student raised his hand. "Yes?"

"What is it for, Ms. Bonnet?" Asked the kid.

"Now that, children…" She left them in suspense. "…Is a surprise." Three mass groans in total. She dealt out the exams and flipped over the hourglass. "Do your best."

And the Kindergärteners went to work.

Arle and Amitie tried to take their minds off of what happened to Lala and did their best.

'Um… Uh… Sure? Ice is not its own element, I think? Phooey, how does that go again? Did we even learn that one?' It came easier to Arle than Amitie. The former didn't hang on the questions as much.

Sig was further ahead than Arle. But that's because he couldn't bring himself to care about anything at the moment. He just scribbled random multiple choice answers and gave answers like 'i guess' and 'maybe'. He didn't even bother reading the questions. He wanted to check up on Lala as soon as possible. But he wasn't allowed to until the bell rang.

The sands of time had fallen and the exam had concluded. Not that they were done, however, they still had some regular lessons to drag out Arle and Sig's worries.

When they were finally done the trio left their class in a group.

"Guys. What do you think that test was for?" Amitie asked the two. "That was a hard test."

"I got no idea, Ami." Arle shrugged. "And was it hard? It was tough, yeah, but nothing we aren't used to."

"Oh…" Ami felt a little embarrassed now. She didn't try to show that to her friends though. "Uh… What do think what was the point of the exam is, Sig?"

"Can we just check up on Lala?"

**kirbymanx/huskynator's Notes:**

Hey there, Not-warelander here. I took over for a chapter. I hope you don't mind this.

I followed warelander notes to a T. It was a nice writing exercise, I can't just wing it and make up things and characters to suit my needs. That can put his plans in jeopardy. Hope I didn't do that.

He did say, I did something he's gonna have fun with for a certain character, but your guess is as good as mine.

His notes don't imply where the story starts or when. That's why most of this chapter takes place in ten minutes.

I am the beta and proofreader too, that way this story will be better than my own story 'Silvana, From Clone to Clown'

These are some surprising mature Kindergarteners, aren't they? They didn't blame Arle.

**warelander's Notes:**

Major thanks to huskynator for taking over for this chapter. Been feeling down about some things, which kept me from being all too productive, despite me having finished the outline for this quite a while ago.

Either way, next time I'll be back at the writing seat and I'll make sure it won't take as long to get done.


	3. The Tower Exam: Chapter 2

It wasn't often that Sig took the lead in something, the boy was usually comfortable to be the one to follow someone else. This was a different story though, as he made his way to the nurse's office, at a speed most wouldn't have expected from him.

Arle and Amitie followed suit, doing their best to keep up with him as they tracked through the school/kindergarten hybrid's floors. Arle couldn't describe what it was, but the way felt unusually long to her.

Was it because of the pang of guilt she felt in her gut?

Was it anxiety, caused by the uncertainty of how Lala was doing?

She wasn't certain, it probably was a mix of both anyways.

After what felt like an eternity to her, their destination had finally come into view, with Sig in particular wasting no time opening the door, too desperate to see his friend again to think of a courtesy knock or anything of the sort.

As the trio entered the room, they turned to see that the nurse was currently not present, instead being greeted by Camus, standing next to the examination table, his calmness indicating good news.

Indeed, on said table sat Lala, wrapped up in a blanket and slightly shivering, yet nonetheless beaming as she saw her friends.

''Lala.'' Not skipping a beat, Sig made his way to the exam table, climbing up on it to kneel next to his friend and pull her into a hug. Lala was too wrapped up to hug him back, but still returned the gesture by leaning into him, visibly enjoying the warmth and comfort of the embrace.

''Thank goodness you are okay!'' Amitie proclaimed, in a combination of relief and awe and the display of affection between her friends.

''She IS okay, right Camus?'' Arle had to ask, clearly still not feeling well, which Camus took note of.

''She has to take some medicine for a mild cold, but otherwise she's perfectly fine.''

Camus wasn't a good liar, if he tried to downplay things she would have been able to read it, yet nothing. Arle could feel as the brick that had been weighing on heart began to crack. Still, there were still things that needed to be said.

''Lala, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to freeze you or make Sig worry so much.'' She sincerely said, subconsciously shifting her view from her friends onto the ground in shame.

''I know you didn't mean it Arle.'' Sig spoke up, still holding onto Lala, but offering a sincere smile to show he meant it. The first one Arle saw on him since that whole incident happened. She gave a meek smile as well, still nervous about Lala, but the girl didn't show signs of a grudge.

''I'm sorry too, for being so moody before.'' Now it was her time to smile, ''I guess we are even.''

Both girls had to giggle a bit, while Amitie and Camus were visible relieved that there wasn't any tension and Sig was just happy to be with his deskmate again.

''Besides, be glad you got to sit that surprise exam out.'' Amitie threw into the conversation, grabbing Camus' attention on the spot.

''A surprise exam? What was that about?''

''Stuff we learned across the year. Ms. Bonnet said it won't affect our grades though.'' Arle answered, still unsure herself what the point of this test was.

''Good thing it isn't, my head still hurts from all the questions. Who can remember all that on the spot?'' Amitie, clearly still mentally exhausted ranted, almost more to herself then anyone in the room.

This sparked some discussion on the true meaning of this odd test between Arle, Amitie, Sig and Lala. Maybe the school was trying to see where every student was struggling or maybe it was a wake-up call to make them study more in preparation for the future.

Camus meanwhile had his own ideas what it could have been, this all seemed plenty familiar from both his own experiences and things he had been told by his grandmother.

Still he decided to not spill the beans, it would be better for them to learn of it the intended way. One thing was for certain though: things were about to get interesting...

* * *

Author's Notes: It's been a while, hasn't it? Not going to lie, I feel really bad for how rough of a start this project had, there have been a lot of external factors that kept me from writing as much as I would like to and I hope that's truly over now.


	4. The Tower Exam: Chapter 3

The following day went without any major events or surprises, for the students of Ms. Bonnet's class. As the final hour of the school day gradually came closer to ending most kids were already spacing out.

Some were still attentive to their teacher's every word, but many were ready to leave, hoping the remaining minutes would flow by like a river.

''There is one last thing we need to go over, before we wrap things up'' Ms. Bonnet declared, as she picked up a sheet from her desk.

''It's the results of the surprise exam from yesterday.''

It was that sentence that made the entire class perk up. Few students were sure what to think or how to judge their performance...with the sole exception of Amitie, who slowly sunk in her seat, visibly sweating.

''Please, don't read it out loud! I already know I did terribly!'' The blonde nervously thought to herself, not looking forward of having a academic blunder on her end announced to everyone.

''You see children, we had to take this exam to determine who will represent the class in this year's tower exam.''

And with that, Ms. Bonnet had everyone's attention. Everyone knew the tower exam, being able to take it was seen as a prestigious honor across the land and a true sign of a gifted magician in the making.

Some were excited, some nervous, some barely even knew how to react. Lala meanwhile couldn't help but to be a little worried and hoped to have a one-on-one talk with her teacher as soon as possible.

''Our representative, with a perfect score in the exam, will be Arle Nadja.''

''Huh?!'' Arle could barely believe it- She was confident she did well, but to be the best in class came as a shock. A shock big enough to make her barely even notice all her classmates looking her direction, not even Amitie's cheerful, congratulatory squeaking could manage to get through.

''Very nicely done Arle! Just go and see the headmaster, she wants to congratulate you as well. The rest of you are all dismissed for today.''

''O-Okay!'' Was all Arle could get out, her head still feeling woozy from the sudden surprise as she was first to leave the room. The rest of the kindergartners weren't too far behind, excited to call it a day.

The only one left was Lala, who had asked Sig to go ahead without her. Ms. Bonnet was too occupied with packing her own notes and get her desk in order, to even realize that someone was still with her in the room, only taking note of Lala when she felt something tuck at her dress.

''Oh, Lala. Is something the matter?''

''Ms. Bonnet...I didn't get to take the exam.'' The girl said, trying to hide that she was feeling rather distressed about the unfortunate situation, which her teacher took note of.

''Yes, unfortunately the school dictates we take the exam on a specific day. I'm sadly not allowed to make any delays so all students can be present.'' She apologetically explained, she did truly feel bad to rob a hard-working student of a big chance, but her hands were tied.

''...I-I understand.'' Lala meekly replied, trying to make a leave as soon as possible, only to feel the warm hand of her teacher softly placing itself on her little arm.

''Just know Lala, you are a good student. This was out of everyone's control, just try to remember that none of this reflects badly on you, Okay?''

The little girl nodded, still remaining at the same spot for a while to let her teacher comfort her.

Meanwhile, Amitie and Sig made their way through the school/kindergarten hybrid's floors, excited, yet still needing to process the events at hands.

''Arle will get to do the tower exam! This is gonna be so cool~'' Amitie almost yelled through the floors, celebrating her friend's success.

''Yeah. She will make it through no problem.'' Sig concurred, softly smiling while he watched Amitie excitedly hopping around. Truly, he had just as much faith in Arle to pull it off with ease.

''I heard that even Major Akuma will be there to see her off! Maybe she will even be in the newspapers!'' Amitie continued to fantasize, not noticing that someone joined the duo's side.

''You sure it's gonna go so well?''

Surprised by the sudden sound of another voice the two stopped in their tracks, turning their heads to the right, to notice a certain blonde classmate of theirs.

''Huh? Gustav? What do you mean and why do you look so pale?'' Amitie asked the boy. Truly, Gustav looked incredibly anxious, twiddling his fingers in a nervous fashion.

''Well...you really sure that Arle will do this no sweat?''

''Of course!''

''Uh-huh.''

''I mean I get it, but...my brother told me some nasty things about that tower. They don't sort out who can go in there for nothing.''

Truthfully, neither Amitie nor Sig gave that much of a thought, but there was something to it. After all: this wasn't an exam everyone was allowed to take.

''Even then, how bad can it be?'' Amitie asked, feeling like she was tempting fate, before even getting her response.

''...For one thing there are supposedly things there that suck out your magic power and leave you to rot away.''

Both Amitie and Sig's eyes widened, he had to be joking, right?

''Or Larves that will force themselves down your throat and poison you.''

''Eeeek!'' Amitie shrieked, covering her mouth with both hands out of sheer instinct,

''Or Zombies that won't stay down and keep following you.''

Though quiet, Sig visibly crinched at the thought of a undead. menace one couldn't escape from.

''Or ghosts who-''

''Please stop!'' Amitie couldn't stand to listen any further and Sig clearly needed it to end as well. Gustav seemed equally uncomfortable and now they knew why he was so nervous.

''Just saying, I'm worried for Arle guys! We don't know what's gonna happen to her there!''

SIg and Amitie both exchanged looks, that without words, conveyed their shared horror.

Clearly, there was more to this exam then they would have imagined.

Authors Note: Gustav won't be much of a thing, the extras in the classroom just need names too, when they get speaking parts. I'll be working on the next two chapters of my collab project An Ordinary Puyo Puyo High School AU next and then return to BTL. Won't take long.


End file.
